Home team in capital letters; point spreads (opening line) in parentheses after underdog team; selections with point spreads in bold.

THURSDAY NIGHT

Washington 24 (+1), DALLAS 17 - The Team That Dares Not Speak Its Name is 9-1 against the spread in God's Country since 2007, and Dez Bryant says that he and Dak Prescott lack "connectivity" - and I'm sure the comment had nothing to do with the Internet. Don't you just love these diva receivas? You can't live with 'em, you can't live without 'em!

SUNDAY

Kansas City 23, N.Y. JETS 13 (+5) - After going 3-0 both ways against the Jets while at Philadelphia (the Jets have never beaten the Eagles regardless of who has coached them), Andy Reid has added two more wins and covers over them as a Chief. And while pressure is growing on Reid to bench Alex Smith and start first-round draftee Patrick Mahomes, you can be sure that Josh McClown (6-27 as a starter since 2014) is gonna Josh McClown.

New England 34, BUFFALO 14 (+9) - While Tom Brady is 54-10 straight up lifetime in December, he is a far more modest 34-29-1 against the spread. But Bill Belichick wants to go into "Super Bowl 51 1/2" at Pittsburgh in Week 15 with a full head of steam.

ATLANTA 27, Minnesota 17 (+3) - The Falcons are peaking at the right time, and give me Matty Ice over Case Keenum any day, unless of course it's in the playoffs.

JACKSONVILLE 34, Indianapolis 3 (+9 1/2) - In a fitting postcard from the edge of a lost season, the Colts left their roof open for the first time all year last week - on a 47-degree day! Jags won the first meeting 27-0 in Indy, with the roof closed, in Week 7, to snap an eight-game indoor losing streak.

MIAMI 16, Denver 13 (+1) - Maybe the Broncos should bring Tim Tebow back, especially with Paxton Lynch out two to four weeks with an ankle injury - for it was in Tebow's first NFL start that the Broncos recorded their only win ever in Miami, in 2011.

BALTIMORE 23, Detroit 10 (+3) - In addition to their well-documented struggles in "Triple Witching Hour" games, the Lions have not beaten Team Modell on the road since 1970 and their 20-48 record in December since 2001 is far and away the NFL's worst over that span.

TENNESSEE 24, Houston 6 (+6 1/2) - Even the sorest Marcus Mariota towers over Tom Savage in talent, and Monday night's push in Baltimore made the Texans 1-6-1 against the spread on grass in 2016-17.

Tampa Bay 23 (+2), GREEN BAY 17 - With Brett Hundley at quarterback, the Packers have behaved exactly the opposite of the way one would think, losing and non-covering in all three of their home games while splitting their two road games and covering in both. And Tampa Bay has won three in a row as a visitor in cold weather by a combined 40 points, and could get Jameis Winston back.

CHICAGO 17, San Francisco 14 (+5) - Another game in which the visitor in cold weather could actually be a good bet: The last five teams to play (and lose to) the Eagles not only all lost the following week, but did so by a combined 139 to 54. So the tried and tested maxim "Take the points - at least" most definitely pertains here. Jimmy Garoppolo makes his first start as a 49er.

Carolina 23 (+4), NEW ORLEANS 21 - The Saints won the first meeting in Carolina by three touchdowns in Week 3 - but they had Alex Okafor and Marshon Lattimore for that game, while this time around Okafor is definitely out (for the season in fact) and Lattimore is at best questionable. And the Panthers are 3-0 both ways on artificial turf in 2017, after having gone 12-25-1 straight up and 11-27 against the spread on it in from 2008 through 2016.

L.A. CHARGERS 34, Cleveland 19 (+13) - A third straight late blown cover by the Browns last week. You would think that they were doing it on purpose! And Cleveland 2.0 is 4-15 straight up and 9-9-1 against the spread in franchise history on the road in the Mountain and Pacific time zones; omit their six games at Oakland and those respective marks become 1-12 and 5-8.

L.A. Rams 24, ARIZONA 14 (+7) - The Rams shut out the Cards 33-0 at London in Week 7 in what would otherwise have been a home game for the Rams - but the home team as ordinarily defined lost the last five in this series both ways prior. And if Washington indeed wins Thursday night, that would make the Rams' record against teams with losing records this year 6-0 straight up, 239 points scored and 112 allowed, and a half point shy of also being 6-0 against the spread.

OAKLAND 27, N.Y. Giants 10 (+7 1/2) - Instead of getting to bench Eli Manning, Ben McAdoo should have been fired and Steve Spagnuolo tabbed to finish the season. Meanwhile, Michael Crabtree (and Denver's Aqib Talib) has been suspended for this game, plus Amari Cooper left the win over the Broncos with a concussion, which could leave the Raiders mighty thin at wide receiver. But not to worry if that happens: After desecrating the national anthem, Marshawn Lynch can desecrate the 31st-ranked Giant run defense - and maybe there will be more interceptions where Oakland's first of the entire season came from last week - and lead the Silver and Black to an easy win and cover.

Philadelphia 30, SEATTLE 23 (+3) - The Seahawks have three consecutive double-digit wins over the Eagles in which they have outscored them 81-43, and Seattle has not lost three in a row at home since 2008! Still, Kam Chancellor has joined fellow secondarian Richard Sherman on injured reserve, from which 2016 Pro Bowl defensive end Cliff Avril cannot be reactivated until next week. That's a lot of talent to be missing on one side of the ball. Close but no cigar, Skip Bayless.

MONDAY NIGHT

Pittsburgh 28, CINCINNATI 24 (+5 1/2) - Straight from the horse's mouth: Mike Tomlin has openly admitted that he's looking ahead to "Super Bowl 51 1/2" - and with Chicago coming to the City of Satan next week, the Bengals can move above the .500 mark for the first time this season in two weeks if they can find a way to steal this game.

BEST BETS: ATLANTA, JACKSONVILLE, BALTIMORE

__________________"We know that the price of seeking to force our beliefs on others is that they might someday force theirs on us" - Mario Cuomo